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May 06, 2022 Web Exclusive By Austin Saalman

Through her maximalist neo-psychedelic chamber pop project Kisskadee, prolific singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Kasie Shahbaz has created a work of exquisite beauty in the form of a grand cosmological inquiry, the origin and ultimate fate of the universe itself mirroring her own evolution from innocence to experience. Black Hole Era is a stunning song cycle, sonically diverse as Shahbaz explores her history through fragmented verses of fear, beguilement, erosion, and dissipation. Her lyrics lend life to their surroundings, from the grass and trees to the singer’s family and acquaintances. In a hypnagogic haze, she aims for wider soundscapes here, incorporating her classical sensibilities in crafting this rolling baroque fantasy of mortality and insensibility. The album’s sweeping strings, buzzing synths, and moody guitars flirt with numerous musical eras, with Shahbaz harnessing this eclectic range of influences into a singular sound and atmosphere all her own.

Introductory track “High as the Sky” finds Shahbaz in her nascent youth, mist enshrouding the earth, clearing with a music box tinkle and lullaby invocation, “She used to love me high/As high as the sky.” Subsequently, the fantastically terrifying realm of childhood is intimately depicted on the jazz-tinged “Ursula,” Shahbaz stating, “If I were a rose I’d be on Mars.” Remarkable in its versatility, “Ursula” possesses a suite-like structure, Shahbaz weaving in and out of confusion and bliss, exploring her relationship to nature and inevitable return to its embrace.

“Brother,” Black Hole Era’s standout track, reveals Shahbaz’s tremendous songwriting and lyrical talents, its melody conjuring the warm firefly’s kiss of a purple June evening, deceptively masking the singer’s account of personal tragedy: “In the bathtub and on the door/I saw his wrists were bloody, bloody, bloody…” This orchestral fever dream of loss and memory stands easily among the year’s finest musical offerings, its cryptic lyrics somehow inspiring universal emotion: “The clouds were fast when they pushed you home/Back on the coast where you sleep in white foam/I wish you talked to me on the phone/You can hang my lungs from your highest dome” and “I’ve never seen such perfect bones/You ring out my skin when your eyes roll/My lunch and dinner are crumbs from your toast/Try to be kind when you ask me to go.” With her childhood and adolescence converging, the distant “wah-wah-wah” of her infancy haunting the backdrop like a specter half-forgotten, one cannot help but share in Shahbaz’s youthful melancholia as she declares, “People don’t love me anymore/People used to love me.”

Acoustic ode to ephemeral youth “Ice Cream” and meditation on mortality “Geist” are meticulous masterpieces, the imperative messages of Shahbaz’s lyrics masquerading behind each track’s rich prog pop curtain. On the latter, she sings, “Home to shed/Needs unmet/In the hole I bury my dead/I give up/Can’t you see?/To die’s the only way to fly free.” The stirring depth of her vivid proclamations places Shahbaz alongside the likes of Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) as one of her generation’s leading pop music intellectuals. In this respect, Black Hole Era is a much-needed genre experiment, with Shahbaz able to express her complex vision while maintaining sonic appeal. For evidence, look no further than the album’s bewitchingly apocalyptic title track. Here, Shahbaz experiences the rumblings of oblivion through a floral rush of baroque pining, singing, “The darkness is coming and I’m attuned/You hide from desire like a hole in the dark.”

Abandoning the title track’s epic scope, stark piano ballad “Supplication” finds Shahbaz drying out in the shade of her final dark star, an ominous energy swelling just beneath its tranquil surface as she sings, “I’ve been on my best behavior/I want you to come back.” Serving as something of a spiritual sibling to its predecessor, “Without Condition” sees the artist seeking transcendence as her very essence dissolves, her memory becoming, to quote Neil Young, “just another line in the field of time.” “Maybe on the other side of this hate,” Shahbaz supposes, “there is a liberation.” Closing track “Deep as the Ocean” finds her lightyears away, and yet somehow still close beside. The track’s eerie horror film organ crafts a delirious atmosphere of both terror and awe as Shahbaz insists, “It’s not your fault/It’s like we were both/Hiding from your father/The love in your eyes is with me.” Perhaps the language of death is spoken here.

Black Hole Era is an extravagant pop release, exhilarating from start to finish. The album’s ambitious Terrence Malick-sized scope of narrative pairs well with its far-reaching musical tastes, Shahbaz having proven herself one of her generation’s most inventive songwriters. The abilities on display here leave the listener eager for what is to come, as Shahbaz’s vision will no doubt continue to evolve with each release, whether beneath the Kisskadee moniker, or something else entirely. Listen to Black Hole Era, hear the vacant echo of the universe, populated by ghostly memories of personhood and heartache, the natural implosion of self, complemented by multiplex mythologies and reinterpretations of mortality. Kasie Shahbaz’s life on earth has already proven itself glorious, her stunning reflections and recollections packed concisely into Black Hole Era’s affecting entirety. (www.kisskadee.bandcamp.com)

Author rating: 8.5/10